Heart Diseases Clinical Trials

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) will serve as the site for the RURAL Study Coordinating Center, led by PI Vasan Ramachandran, MD. The primary function of the Study Coordinating Center (SCC) is to serve as an administrative liaison between all of the RURAL study's cores. The SCC schedules, facilitates, and hosts, all RURAL meetings including preparation for Observational Study Monitoring Board (OSMB) meetings, and maintains direct communication with the study's program officers at NHLBI. The SCC monitors the overall progress of RURAL and keeps all RURAL cores abreast of study updates through meetings, emails, newsletters. It also maintains the official RURAL website and serves as an administrator for investigators seeking to collaborate with RURAL through the submission of Ancillary Studies. The SCC will have no direct interaction with any participants, nor will it have access to identifiable data. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to test a culturally tailored, smartphone-delivered intervention designed to increase physical activity and reduce risk for heart disease and type 2 diabetes among African American women. Read Less

Arrhythmogenic ventricular cardiomyopathy (AVC) is a genetic condition which affects the heart and can lead to heart failure and rhythm problems, of which, sudden cardiac arrest or death is the most tragic and dangerous. Diagnosis and screening of blood-relatives is very difficult as the disease process can be subtle, but sufficient enough, so that the first event is sudden death. The Mayo Clinic AVC Registry is a collaboration between Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA and Papworth Hospital, Cambridge University Hospitals, Cambridge, UK. The investigators aim to enroll patients with a history of AVC or sudden cardiac death which may be due to AVC, from the US and UK. Family members who are blood-relatives will also be invited, including those who do not have the condition. Data collected include symptoms, ECG, echocardiographic, MRI, Holter, loop recorder, biopsies, exercise stress testing, blood, buccal and saliva samples. Objectives of the study: Discover new genes or altered genes (variants) which cause AVC Identify biomarkers which predict (2a) disease onset, (2b) disease progression, (2c) and the likelihood of arrhythmia (ventricular, supra-ventricular and atrial fibrillation) Correlate genotype with phenotype in confirmed cases of AVC followed longitudinally using clinical, electrocardiographic and imaging data. Characterize desmosomal changes in buccal mucosal cells with genotype and validate with gold-standard endomyocardial biopsies Read Less

Investigators will determine whether N-of-1 trials, as a pragmatic, patient-centered approach to medication optimization that can overcome key barriers of deprescribing, can lead to increased subject confidence regarding the decision to continue or discontinue beta-blockers in older adults with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF). Read Less

The study team will generate preliminary data on whether patients with cardiac amyloidosis feel better when their beta-blocker is stopped. To achieve this objective, 20 N-of-1 trials (on vs. off) will be conducted, and the study team will subsequently interview participants to better understand their outcomes. Each subject will participate in 2 periods lasting between up to 6 weeks each based on each patient's health profile. We will also engage stakeholders to understand the acceptability and feasibility of deprescribing N-of-1 trials. The N-of-1 trials will be iteratively refined in real-time based on feedback. Read Less

AliveCor (www.alivecor.com) has developed several electrocardiogram (ECG) devices that interface with iOS and Android smartphones and tablets via various Kardia apps. The current Kardia family of devices can measure single lead and six limb-lead ECGs, depending on the device. KardiaMobile, KardiaMobile 6L, and KardiaMobile Card have FDA clearance for ECG rhythm recording. A modified single-lead Kardia smartphone 12-lead ECG was previously validated in the multicenter ST LEUIS study for the diagnosis of ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) and Non-ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (NSTEMI). Recently, AliveCor developed a new device: AliveCor (AC) 12-lead (12L) ECG System to record simultaneously 4 leads of ECG and then generate complete 12-lead ECGs. A previous protocol at the University of Oklahoma involved 200 subjects with early prototypes of the AC 12L device with the specific aim to validate that it accurately generated 12-lead ECGs as compared to simultaneously acquired FDA-cleared 12-lead ECGs. The prototype version of the AliveCor 12L ECG System simultaneously measured four channels of ECG (leads I, II, V2, V4), calculated the remaining limb leads as is standard for 12-lead ECGs (Leads III, aVR, aVL, aVF) and synthesized the remaining 4 precordial ECG leads (V1, V3, V5, V6). This protocol will serve to validate the production version of the system against standard 12-Lead ECGs for the diagnosis of STEMI and NSTEMI in patients admitted to the Emergency Department or directly to the Cardiac Cath Lab for the evaluation of chest pain. It is anticipated that the waveforms for each of the 12 leads from the AC 12L ECG System will be highly correlated with the corresponding leads from the comparator commercially available 12-lead ECG devices used at participating sites. The purpose of this study is to clinically validate that the four-channel AC 12L ECG device can enable the diagnosis of STEMI and NSTEMI in a non-inferior manner to existing 12-lead ECG devices. Read Less

Despite many advances in our understanding of the natural history and progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and cardio vascular disease (CVD) in the parent CRIC study over the past 15 years, important questions about key risk factors for these diseases remain unanswered in the AI population. To address this burden of CKD in AI communities Investigators formed a consortium of investigators with extensive experience in conducting research of chronic diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular and kidney disease in AIs of Southwestern US. The proposed CRIC ancillary cohort study of 500 AIs (AI-CRIC) will rapidly improve our understanding of both potential risk factors for CKD progression, as well as the scope of this disease among AIs. This study leverages the current CRIC study and incorporates the planned activities of the next phase of the study - "CRIC 2018" - by implementing contemporary CRIC protocols for kidney and cardiovascular measurement and outcomes. Read Less

Our study aims to compare postoperative outcomes, postoperative pain and postoperative quality of lives in patients who receive the standard sternal precautions to those in patients who received self-managed sternal precautions following sternotomy for cardiac surgeries. The purpose of the study is to see if self-managed sternal precautions following sternotomy for cardiac surgeries lead to better quality of lives while maintaining same postoperative pain and rate of postoperative adverse events than standard sternal precautions. Postoperative pain and postoperative quality of lives will be assessed by phone call surveys. Postoperative outcomes will be measured by following the patients for up to a year using electronic medical record. Read Less

South Asian (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Nepali, and Sri Lankan) individuals have high rates of cardiovascular disease that is not explained by traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Though South Asians represent over one-quarter of the world's population, there are no longitudinal studies in this high-risk ethnic group. The investigators aim to establish a longitudinal study of South Asians at three United States centers to identify risk factors linked to subclinical atherosclerosis and incident cardiovascular disease. The purpose of this study is to understand the causes of heart disease and stroke in South Asians and compare these causes to those in other United States ethnic groups. Read Less

To determine the mechanism of monocyte priming in humans, the study team will conduct a complete feeding trial in normal weight and metabolically healthy human subjects (20-45 years of age) using a western diet (WD), characterized as being high-saturated fat, high-fructose, and high-calorie for 8 weeks. Read Less

To test the specific research questions, healthy men and age-matched healthy premenopausal females will be enrolled. Subjects will undergo cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy (MRI/MRS) to evaluate cardiac morphology/function and fat metabolism. To acutely elevate myocardial triglyceride content, subjects will be asked to abstain from eating for 2 days (reproducibly causes a significant and physiological increase in myocardial fat deposition, transiently). Subjects will be allowed water and/or an isotonic saline solution in order to maintain hydration status. After screening, subjects will meet with the research coordinator or an investigator for a discussion, with opportunity for questions, before applicable consent forms are obtained. The subject will be screened for metal in or on their body and claustrophobia using a standard MR screening form. A venous blood sample will be taken for measurement of metabolic health, circulating hormones, and systemic inflammation. Imaging will include cine imaging for global morphology and function, tissue tagging for regional tissue deformation, spectroscopy for fat quantification. After baseline images of the heart are obtained, the subject will be asked to squeeze a MR-safe handgrip dynamometer at 30% of their maximum while images of the heart are obtained. Blood pressure will also be measured at rest and during stress. Each MRI will take approximately 90-120 minutes. Aim 1 will test the hypothesis that cardiac steatosis induced left ventricular dysfunction is sexually dimorphic, by comparing age-matched men and premenopausal women before and after 48 of fasting. Subjects will complete the MRI/MRS protocol described above before and after the fasting intervention. Aim 2 will test the hypothesis that estrogen is protective against cardiac steatosis-induced dysfunction, by suppressing ovarian sex hormones with a GnRH antagonist and repeating the fasting studies with and without estrogen add-back. 30 female subjects will be treated with GnRH antagonist and repeat the 48 hour fasting intervention and cardiac MRI/MRS protocol. 15 of the subjects will receive estrogen add-back using a transdermal patch, the other 15 subjects will receive a placebo patch. Aim 3 will test whether plasma and myocardial fatty acid composition is sexually dimorphic, by performing comprehensive plasma and myocardial lipidomics assessment. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to collect DNA samples from patients undergoing routine care at the University of Chicago. These samples will be tested for differences in genes that may suggest greater risk of side effects or chance of increased benefit from certain medications. The results will be made available to the patient's treating physician and the researchers will track whether or not this information is used in routine health care. Read Less